When to Be Quick, and When to be Slow

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Transcript

Welcome And The Cookie Story

SPEAKER_00 0:04

Hello and welcome to Five Minutes in the Word. I'm Ronnie Cooksy. As the story goes, a woman was waiting for her flight at the airport and she stepped into an airport store where she purchased a book and a package of cookies. She sat down and began to read her book, and after a little while she noticed that a stranger, a man, sitting next to her, reached over and took the first cookie out of her package. She was aghast. Not knowing the man and being scared to say anything, she just kept it to herself. So she took the next cookie. But then a little while later, the man took another cookie, and so they went one at a time until they got down to the last cookie, where the man had the gall to snap the cookie in half and took a half. She, in her anger at this point, reached over and snatched up the last half and ate it. About that time her flight was called, and she didn't even look back at the man. She couldn't believe someone could be so rude and to take her cookies. She found her seat on the plane and she sat down and she opened up her bag to put her book in the bag, and there to her shock and horror she saw her cookies. Yes, she had been eating his cookies, and he actually was kind enough to snap the last cookie in half to share it with her. Well, we quickly assume things that cause us to grow angry.

James On Hearing And Anger

SPEAKER_00 1:31

Listen to what James chapter one, verse nineteen and twenty say. This you know, my beloved brethren, but everyone must be quick to hear, slow to speak, and slow to anger, for the anger of man does not achieve the righteousness of God. He says, You know this, well, why is he telling them? Because we need to be reminded of a lot of things in the Christian life.

Be Quick To Hear

SPEAKER_00 1:55

He says, first, you need to be quick to do something. We want to be quick to be angry or quick to speak, but he says, be quick to hear. As it's been said, God gave you two ears and one mouth on purpose. Quick to hear. It's not just the physiological act of the sound passing through your eardrums and registering in your brain, but to actually stop to hear. To consider. Consider what? Consider the other side of the issue. Consider what might have caused that person to do that thing. Consider whether they actually even meant to do you harm in the first place. Consider their heart. In the case of someone we know well or a spouse or a loved one, sometimes it's good just to ask when we think we should be offended, is this a person who wants to hurt me? No, this is a person who's already given their life to me.

Be Slow To Speak

SPEAKER_00 2:50

Quick to hear and then slow to do something, slow to speak. Words can be forgiven, but they leave a mark. If I throw a dart into your wall, I can extract the dart, but it's going to leave a hole. Slow to speak, are you sure that's what you want to say, and more importantly, that that's what God would want you to say verbally, in written form, online, with a text, whatever it might be.

Be Slow To Anger

SPEAKER_00 3:21

And then slow to one more thing, slow to anger. Ephesians six, as we looked at a few weeks ago, reminds us that we can be angered and not sin. There can be a situation, a person, a circumstance that begins to rub us the wrong way. But by God's grace, we can be quick to hear, slow to speak, and then oftentimes even just those two pauses will allow us to see things that can cause us to be angry and to lash out in ways that will harm us, harm God's name and his kingdom, and cause us deep regret. He says that the anger of man does not achieve the righteousness of God. You see, sometimes we get angry and we think, I'm angry for God's sake. I'm angry and I'm gonna fix this because this isn't right. He says anger is a bad tool to perform such an act. You'd be better off trying to repair a pocket watch with a sledgehammer than you would trying to correct something with anger.

Better Tools Than Anger

SPEAKER_00 4:29

Well then what does achieve the righteousness of God? What is a good tool? Prayer, righteous thoughts, humility, kindness, patience. Let's

Final Charge And Blessing

SPEAKER_00 4:43

seek today to be quick to hear, slow to speak, and slow to anger. God bless you in this pursuit, and I'll see you back here next time.